BYRON, George Gordon Noel, (Lord) (1788-1824).:
Don Juan. Cantos I - XVI (Complete).London: Printed for Thomas Davison; John Hunt: - 1824 Cantos I-V New editions Revised and corrected Cantos VI - XVI all First editions 1820 - 3 volumes, 8vo., [227pp. + ii, 222pp.] + [x, 184pp., [ii] publisher's ads + 151pp.] + [168pp. + 129pp., [ii] publisher's ads, errata slip present], very occasional light scattered spotting only to first volume, matching marbled fore-edges, bound in good quality twentieth century tan half calf, spines with raised bands and matching red morocco title labels lettered in gilt. A near fine set nicely bound in half calf of Byron's epic satire and one of the great comic poems in the English language. The John Hunt Cantos were all issued without half titles and these are the large paper copies. (Wise: Vol 2 p3 - 7; Randolph: p69, 74, 83, 91). Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womanizer but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Byron himself called it an "Epic Satire" (Don Juan, c. xiv, st. 99). Modern critics generally consider it Byron's masterpiece, with a total of more than 16,000 lines of verse. Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824. Byron claimed he had no ideas in his mind as to what would happen in subsequent cantos as he wrote his work. When the first two cantos were published anonymously in 1819, the poem was criticized for its 'immoral content', though it was also immensely popular. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]
[Bookseller: Geoffrey Jackson (Bookseller)]